Isle of Man
by SomeGoldfishGuy
Summary: Hiccup is asked to switch from being a mechanic to a racer on his dad's team, and learns the hard way that the bikes he's worked on for years are almost untameable to ride on track. As Hiccup has to suffer through the growing pains of his new position, his father has to work behind the scenes to get Hiccup to be the best rider he can be. Is this what either of them really wanted?
1. Chapter 1

"Son, we need to talk." Hiccup turned around from his workbench as he felt Stoick's hand rest on his shoulder. His father was a giant of a man in every aspect of the word. His broad shoulders could just barely squeeze through a doorway, his thick beard would hardly let light through it, and his booming voice could be heard easily over the roar of a race. Hiccup was nearly the polar opposite of his dad.

"Yeah dad?" Hiccup asked, putting his tools down on the tabletop. Unfortunately, their thoughts also never seemed to align either.

"I think it's about time to go into training," his dad simply stated.

"I uh, oh, what?"

"You've been working hard behind the scenes, and you know these bikes inside and out better than the back of your hand. I think it's time you get out there and see what you can do on the seat of one of these things." He smiled at his son, anticipating excitement, but when he noticed his son staring at him, he continued. "I put you into the training courses with Gobber and some of your friends. You'll be racing in the Underdog series with them this year."

"Wait, but I enjoy working in the garage, I haven't wanted to ride on a bike since I was seven, dad!" Hiccup finally piped up, but his dad just waved his hand.

"Don't worry, you'll do great I know you will. You've done great on the dirt bikes we take out every summer."

"But those are completely different! I'm not even cut out for this type of work, everyone else has had much more experience than me, I mean Snotlout has been on a motorcycle since he could walk. What do you expect me to do?"

"You'll do fine. Not everyone in that series has experience, that's what Gobber is there for. Oh, I got something for you," Stoick said with a small smile as he reached behind his back, revealing a blue and purple racing helmet. "Now, this is one from Oswald, so it might be a bit big on you, but hopefully it'll fit just fine." Stoick tried to put the helmet onto Hiccup, only to find that the helmet slipped over Hiccups head loosely, so he took it off and put it under his arm. "Oh, uh, well," Stoick coughed and looked around. "I'll be sure to get you one that fits." He walked back out of the garage and left Hiccup to slump back into his chair.

Hiccup sat there looking at the blank spot his father was standing in, trying to understand the information he had just received. As he turned back to the bench to work on a transmission, he couldn't even remember what tool he needed. Turning back at the door to see if Stoick was anywhere nearby, he lamented to himself, "I've worked on motorbikes for years, and now he expects me to race one? I haven't tried to race a bike in years, what does he think I'm actually gonna do?" He shook his head before grabbing the wrench he had been using.

"Welcome to race training!" Gobbers thick accented voice cut through the air as he walked in front of the group of teens.

"Woah, I knew you were messed up but I didn't realize you looked that bad!" Snotlout spoke, earning a glare from Astrid and an elbow from Fishlegs.

"Aye! This is what happens to ye if yer not careful, but it's worth the risk when everything pays off." Gobber spoke up, chuckling to himself.

"Yeah, I suppose you're not really having fun unless you feel some pain." Astrid said, loosening up her shoulders.

"Ah, yes. Pain. Love it." Everyone looked back at Hiccup and some groans were heard.

"Oh great, the mechanic is here. He's not here to race is he? Right?" Snotlout asked looking around to everyone else's faces to gauge their reactions.

"If he is I don't think I'll be able to see him."

"Yeah, cause he'll be so far behind us." Ruffnut finished Tuffnut's sentence before they laughed.

"Who cares, we're here to race, let's get back to training," Astrid said turning back to Gobber.

"Yes, ye don't want to miss out on this. But if ye are curious, yer all here to race."

"But he's only here because he's Stoick's son, he'll just slow us all down!"

"Yer gonna be slowing yerself down with that attitude before Hiccup does anything, Snotlout. Now, can we please get started?" Gobber cut off Snotlout's complaining, to which he only got a disgruntled sigh in response. "Good. Now, get yer bikes." There was a pause as everyone looked at each other.

"Like, right now?" Tuffnut asked.

"No, not right now. You should have been on them yesterday!" Gobber exclaimed before erupting into laughter. When he looked back and saw all of his pupils still looking at him dumbfounded, he got back on track. "Go on then, get yer bikes! The best way to learn is to try."

"Are we actually having a race then?" Astrid questioned.

"Ye all are such nosy little creatures, aren't you? Yes, yer going to have a little race amongst yourselves."

"And if we crash?"

"I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of learning from yer failures. Now get out there!" Gobber shouted, and everyone started heading to the garage to get their bikes.

"Hiccup, you're starting in the back!" Snotlout added as he walked toward his team's garage.

Hiccup was about to say something when he heard Gobber pipe up "Hiccup, you're starting in pole position."

"Wai- I- what?" Hiccup stumbled over his words, at a loss for what to say. Snotlout didn't have that same problem though.

"You're gonna give him pole position like that? He hasn't even been on a bike like this before!"

"We train by walking through the fire, Snotlout. Hiccup has the least experience, so he's starting first. Fishlegs, you're second. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you're third and fourth. Snotlout, you can start in the last row with Astrid."

"At least there's one good thing to look forward to, huh Astrid?" Snotlout said, nudging her with his elbow.

"Good luck looking forward to me, I'll be seeing you in my mirrors. If you can keep up." Astrid said before sliding her helmet on and walking away from Snotlout.

"Right," was all Snotlout could mutter before getting his own helmet.

"Gobber, why did you put me first out of all places? Snotlout's right, I haven't raced one of these bikes before!" Hiccup asked, walking alongside Gobber.

"It's a trial by fire, Hiccup. Everyone is gonna be out of their comfort zone with this one, and everyone will have at least one singe mark by the time we're done. Just try not to get burnt up out there, we still have lots more to go over. Oh, and yer dad wanted me to let you know he got you a new helmet." He said as they made it to Hiccup's garage. His black helmet looked a little smaller than the one his dad tried to fit over his head earlier in the week, but his attention was drawn more toward the bike. It was a beautiful bike, a deep blue at the front, trailing to a dark purple at the back, the classic colors for the Berk racing team his father managed.

"It's all yers. Try not to tear it up too much today." Gobber chuckled to himself. "Now get yer gear on, we gotta be on track in a few minutes," he said, giving Hiccup a pat on the back before walking to the other garage stalls.

After suiting up and getting onto the bike, Gobber led them out onto the starting grid. Even though Hiccup had driven bikes around the garage area like this hundreds of times on the team bikes he's worked on, he was shaking like a leaf the whole way to the grid. On his way there, he was able to see everyone else's bikes. Fishlegs had a reddish brown bike, almost clay colored. The twins had shamrock colored bikes with grey accents on them. Snotlout had a candy red bike with black trim, and lastly Astrid had a sapphire bike with gold accents. All of the bikes were quite different, except for the twins bikes as they raced for the same team, the only difference between the two was the numbers.

"Now, yer gonna go around once as a warm up lap. Line up back here once yer done, and then you'll race for five laps. Then, we'll talk about what went right and what didn't. Go on then!" Gobber said as they all started going down the frontstretch. Before he even made it to the first corner, though, everyone had blown past Hiccup. _I thought this was a warm up lap? _Hiccup asked in his head, looking back to see if he was just seeing things.

Riding through the turns Hiccup thought about how this would end. His confidence kept getting whittled down as he tried to keep up with the rest of the group, only to find that he was unstable throughout the turns on his bike, both on the fast turns of the esses, and the slow hairpin corners. When he eventually made it around the last turn, he saw everyone else already lined up on the grid, and a couple shook their heads as they saw him slowly riding up to the front of the grid.

"Right, when I raise my hand up, that means get ready!" He said as he raised his hook into the air. "When it comes down, that means go, ye got that?" Several engines revved in response. "Great!" Hiccup grew more nervous with each word out of Gobbers mouth, his palms felt like they were sweating through his gloves. Gobber walked to the grass along the side of the track, making sure to keep in view of everyone. He raised his hook up into the air, and all the engines revved up. Hiccup revved the engine, something he reserved for testing the engine itself, never before dropping it into gear after doing so. So when Gobber lowered his arm, Hiccup promptly stalled the engine. Everyone else went racing by him as he tried to get the engine restarted, which proved to be difficult as the nerves caused his fingers to slip several times before getting the engine started again.

Hiccup took off and started making laps, but that proved to be troubling. Each turn he felt like he was going to slip off his bike and straight onto the track. The tires felt like they were covered in oil, and he knew he wasn't sending it into the corners like he should have. He couldn't see anyone in the distance, and for the first three laps it was quite a lonely time. However, on his fourth lap, he saw a blue bike coming up quickly in his mirrors. Before he could even ask himself what to do, Astrid had passed him and was taking the next corner at full speed. He had seen racing on a television many times before, and just as many times in person, so he knew that riders would lean almost parallel to the track in a turn. However, seeing it right in front of him on a bike himself looked completely different. He felt like he would never have the confidence to pull off something like that, and seeing Astrid speed by him like that just made it clear that he was outclassed here, and likely always would be. Coming up to the end of the lap, he saw Snotlout coming up behind him. Coming through the next few turns proved to be difficult for both of them, as Hiccup tried to just stay on track, and Snotlout tried to find any path around him. Snotlout finally got past Hiccup after a couple turns, promptly turning around and waving an upturned hand at him as if asking "what are you doing?" Hiccup saw a green bike in his mirrors a distance back, but he passed the finish line with Gobber waving a checkered flag before they could pass him. Hiccup could finally relax, but he knew he had done poorly. Maybe he did poorly enough for Stoick to take him out of training, but knowing how stubborn his dad could be, Hiccup knew how long these next few months of training would be...

**A.N: I've had this story in mind for a while, so I thought I might as well go for it. Hopefully you enjoy it too, and if you find any mistakes/issues in any chapter, please let me know so I can fix it!**


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone was sitting in the garage Gobber told them to meet in after they put their bikes away. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were arguing over who was faster out on track, Snotlout was trying to talk with Astrid, who was having no part of it, Fishlegs was thinking to himself what he could do better out on track, and lastly Hiccup was looking at his feet, thinking of what would happen these next few weeks, and just what his dad would think.

"So, what did ya learn out there?" Gobber asked.

"I learned there was a moving obstacle out on track." Snotlout shook his head and motioned toward Hiccup.

"Ah, ye weren't that slow, Snotlout," Gobber replied, the others laughing to themselves as they saw Snotlout's face morph into defeat. "But there was quite a pace difference out there, I will admit. By the time we're done, I'm hoping all o' ye will be able to battle each other on track and have a proper race instead of a practice session. Now there is something I would like to point out first of all. Hiccup," Hiccup winced at the stern mention of his name, knowing that nothing good could come from this. "If we had another four people in this class I would not have had ye start first. I'm glad you stalled it here where everyone could get around ye, but if this was an actual race, you might have ended up looking like me. But, that's why yer here. You've learned now that ye need to keep yer cool under pressure, otherwise you'll mess up like that again. And if ye stall again, raise yer hand up, and hope no one clobbers you. So, Hiccup, anything else you learned out there?" Gobber asked, and everyone else turned to him, a couple smirking at him knowing how his performance went.

"I need a lot more practice." Was all he could mutter out with a sigh. Snotlout chuckled while rolling his eyes and everyone else nodded their heads.

"Aye, practice makes perfect. It was yer first time out there on track as a racer, I don't expect you to have the know how like some of the other people here. But with some work-"

"A lot of work," Tuffnut kicked in.

"Some work," Gobber reiterated, looking at the twins, "you'll be able to be a competent racer. I know it." Gobber said this last part turning his attention toward Hiccup, and even though he didn't want to keep doing this training, Gobbers words almost made him want to try his hardest. Gobber was a huge mentor to him during Hiccup's years in the garage working on motors, wheels, setups, and everything in between, to the point where Gobber was almost like a second father to him. However, Hiccup didn't feel like he would ever fit in, and without a lot more work and practice, it would stay that way.

"Fishlegs, what did you learn?"

"I think I need to stiffen up the rear suspension, change the air pressures… and actually drive it into the corners." His voice trailed off at the last part of the sentence, but Gobber still heard him.

"Aye, send it!" Gobber chuckled before continuing. "I used to 'ave the same problem, it's scary when ye first try to race, but you'll get more and more comfortable the more you do it. And Fishlegs, don't get too technical with trying to change your bike, it'll only cause ye more problems. The first hurdle you need to cross is yer own mind." Fishlegs nodded at this as he took mental notes.

"Ruffnut, what about you?"

"I learned that this dork keeps getting in my way." She pointed at Tuffnut, who tried to smack her hand away.

"No way, I was faster than you, you just kept slowing me down!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Both of you calm down!" Gobber bellowed. "Yer doing the same thing here as ye do on track. Yer from the same team for Thor's sake, you should be working together."

"That's easy for you to say, you haven't had to live with her for the past…" He paused as he counted on his fingers. "Seventeen years!"

"Wow, I'm surprised you can count that high," his sister said, to which Gobber had to rub his eyes and sigh. He was going to need a few drinks after today if these two kept it up.

"Look, it doesn't matter. You two could be really good at racing if ye would just stop fighting between yourselves. Work on that for the time being." Ruffnut stuck her tongue out at Tuff, who promptly elbowed her.

"Snotlout, what about you?"

"I did everything perfect, the only thing that went wrong was Hiccup." He jabbed a thumb at Hiccup sitting behind him.

"Ah, so Hiccup kept you ten seconds behind Astrid did he?" Gobber said with a smile.

"Yeah, he kept blocking my way as I was trying to lap him," he said, shaking his head.

"Aye, that's odd. He even slowed you down eight seconds before you got to him, Hiccup has some power, doesn't he? Or was it your mouth that slowed you down? Yer mouth is big enough that if ye open it, it'll act like a parachute. Hiccup might have only slowed you down by two seconds, Snot, but you were still at least eight seconds slower than Astrid, and I'm sure that she'll say that she can improve some of her performance. So, do you know what you can improve on?" Gobber asked more pointedly this time, and Snotlout just looked down at the ground with a glare before shaking his head. "Shame. Looks like you'll have to get out on track again and really focus on what you need to fix. But if I'd suggest anything? Quit being cocky, it'll only land ye in more trouble than it's worth. Astrid, what did you learn?"

"I over drove a couple corners, so I think I just need to not underestimate the track like I did this time." Gobber nodded his head and looked out across the rest of the students.

"Well I think today was a good learning day for everyone. We'll be back out here tomorrow to learn some more, and hopefully you'll all do better now that you know what to work on. Class dismissed!" He said with a smile as everyone stood up to go work on what they needed to, most going to their garages to set up their bikes for tomorrow.

Hiccup was crouching next to his bike cleaning it and checking all the parts to make sure they worked the way they should when he heard a voice to his right.

"You trying to put driving assists on there? I don't think it works like that," Fishlegs tried to stop Snotlout from walking up to the garage, but his attempts were half hearted. The twins were also watching on as Snotlout leaned into the doorway, Hiccup still crouching on the ground but now looking toward the doorway. "Look, I don't care that you're here, but don't get in my way, you almost made me crash today, alright?" When Hiccup didn't answer him, he stood up a little straighter before continuing. "You're not special just because your dad owns a team. You still have to work your way up like I did. Just try not to get in my way next time, I don't want you making me lose an opportunity just because you're in the way." With that, Snotlout walked back to his friends and they walked away from the garage. Hiccup turned back to his bike, but paused at his work. Snotlout may have said some harsh words, but he was right. If Hiccup was going to stay in this group, he would have to prove himself and put in the work to keep up. Rubbing his eyes, he got back to work on his bike.

About half an hour later, he saw Astrid out of the corner of his eye walking away from her garage right next to Hiccup's. He didn't see her look at him, her walk faltering for a second as if she wanted to stop, before shaking her head and walking back to her car to go home.

"Ye want him to be the one?" Gobber asked Stoick, his words dripping with surprise and disbelief. They sat in Gleeson's, one of the pubs they would frequent when talking about business like this. Both of them were already on their second drink, and it was likely they would continue on for the next couple hours. Given the nature of discussion though, their drinks may be forgotten about.

"Yes, I do." Stoick said with a simple nod before taking another sip.

"I don't mean tae insult yer son, but he's like a newborn deer out on track! If ye wanted him to be the one to send there, did it not cross yer mind to at least help him out a little bit? Give him some time on a bike? He was a lap down in a five lap race today, on our three-and-a-half kilometer course no less, I don't think ye understand what I'm having to work with here." Stoick's eyebrows shot up at this revelation before he rested his head on his hands, breathing out a heavy sigh and closing his eyes. Gobber looked at his friend, worried about how he was feeling. "I don't think ye should be planning on having him take on the Isle. He'll come back as minced meat." Stoick's eyes opened back up and he sat back in his chair.

"How much practice do you think he needs?" Gobber raised an eyebrow.

"For what? To try and be competitive in his class or to be competitive on the Isle? Because I would say he needs lots of training to get himself used to being on a bike, and then lots more to actually race it. But if you're talking about him taking on the Isle, then…" Gobber trailed off, but seeing Stoick's gaze maintain its intensity, he kept going. "Maybe several years at least, barring a miracle. Then again, it may never happen. It's difficult to tell, Hiccup is still a teenager, and if I've learned anything from raising my own, ye tell them to do one thing and they do another. Like this one time, I-" Stoick nodded his head, and knowing that Gobber was trying to avoid the topic at hand, cut him off.

"Do you really think he's that bad?" Gobber looked at him for a second before sighing and looking into the bottom of his glass.

"The wee lad's just started, there's no way to tell how good he'll get. For all I know, he'll be tearing up the track before the season starts. But…" Gobber trailed off once again, unsure how gently he should ask his friend. "But are ye sure this is what ye want? The Isle of Man isn't just a hard track, Stoick, you know it takes the amount of brains of a chipmunk and the amount of balls as ye can fit in a wheelbarrow to even get on that track. I know what I think, but do ye think Hiccup could manage?" Stoick nodded his head without a second thought.

"When Hiccup gets passionate about something, he won't stop until he's found a way to do it. He didn't want my help when he first took apart a motor just to put it back together. He wanted to see if he could really do it on his own. It took him a few days to get it to work, but I didn't have to push him to do it at all. If Hiccup wants to do it, he'll do it." Stoick said.

"He is a feisty lad when he wants to be. I'll admit that much."

"Just keep me updated on him, I want to know if I can help." Gobber nodded, and the growing silence in their conversation was only held by Gobber's want to ask another question boring into his mind.

"Do ye think yer alright with sending Hiccup out there? What if he gets hurt, or killed? Is that risk worth it?" Stoick took a deep breath before rubbing his eyes. This conversation was taking a lot out of him.

"I don't know if it's worth it. It's been my dream since I've started my team, and it's been the dream of every single one of my riders. Hiccup means more to me than any trophy or award out there. But like I said. If he wants it, he's gonna try his damnedest."


	3. Chapter 3

"C'mon Hiccup! Ye can do it!" The thunderous voice of Gobber managed to reach Hiccup as he flew past on his bike. Two weeks into practice and nothing had changed as far as Hiccup was concerned. Everyone seemed to fly by him no matter what changes he made to the way he rode his bike. Today was no different. All the bikes were flying around the track as they tried to get the fastest lap they could. Hiccup spent all of his time trying to watch the other riders to see what he could try to do. Over the last two weeks, he had tried just about everything under the sun to improve his laps, but nothing seemed to work in his favor. He tried to shift earlier on the straightaways, but he still had people blowing by him. He tried to lean further into the corners, but he already fell and damaged his bike in the process. Twice. Both times he repaired his bike he swore he wouldn't make the same mistake again and have to spend hours working on the bike to make sure it was up to par. His dad didn't show him the slightest bit of happiness towards what Hiccup was doing. Yet, oddly enough, he didn't seem unhappy with it either. Hiccup wasn't sure if he should try harder to beat his classmates, or if he should do worse and try to get kicked out. So, feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place, Hiccup felt that he had to try something different. He was going to try and race people. Not on speed, he still wasn't going to get any better on that end, but instead he wanted to see if he could block people coming up behind him. He may never end up in any spot other than last, but just in case, he wants to know if he can actually defend his place. If he was going to be a "moving obstacle" he might as well put it to good use.

He saw a sapphire bike speeding his way just as they were coming up to the esses on the track, and knowing this was Astrid he was about to try to block, figured he was going to kick himself for what he was about to do. Yet, he saw no other reason not to, it's not like they knew each other very well in the first place. As they came to the first right hander, Hiccup cut inside and saw Astrid back off in his mirrors before trying to go to the left of him. Once again, Hiccup tried to move to the left, but Astrid was too quick. She got past him, but he had still compromised her line for the next couple corners. Once they made it out onto a straight, he saw her straighten up on her bike and turn back to him. Hiccup sat up as well, knowing that Astrid was probably fuming under that helmet. Sure enough, her hand shot up, flipping him off before speeding back off away from him. Hiccup's shoulders fell, almost immediately regretting what he did. Blocking would only help him if he was fast enough to get enough breathing room between him and the person he was defending from. Also, the person he really wanted to block was Snotlout, even if he would get punched out after practice ended for doing it. He shook his head and ran out the rest of practice getting passed by everyone at just about every point of the track. The next few times Astrid passed him though, she made sure he knew just how much she didn't appreciate his blocking by cutting him off or giving him next to no room when she passed him. Down one straightaway, Hiccup swore she was an inch away from taking off his right arm as she flew by him. Hiccup desperately wanted this practice session to be over and to be in his house, away from the track, away from everyone else here.

Eventually, Hiccup's wishes were granted, and everyone parked their bikes in their respective garages. Hiccup made sure to be quick about stowing his bike away before slinking off to meet with Gobber, as they always did after a session like this. After a minute or two of waiting, Astrid walked in without even glancing at Hiccup. At first, he didn't see any signs of anger or even annoyance on her face. However, Hiccup knew she was hiding it, and after a little more scrutinizing, he could clearly see her grind her teeth slowly and just how tense her shoulders were.

"Well, hopefully ye all are learnin what ye set out there to learn. I've seen improvements from everyone, and I have to say, I'm mighty impressed with how ye all are doing out there. What about the rest of ye, how do ye think it went?" Gobber asked once they had all been seated.

"I know I've been getting faster, I don't know about this one though," Ruffnut said, jabbing a thumb at Tuffnut. He only rolled his eyes, having learned to bite his tongue at remarks like that after having Gobber yell at them multiple times each day they would be getting into banter like that.

"It's been the same old, same old for me." Snotlout responded.

"I've been taking more chances into the corners here, I'm getting a lot more comfortable with the bike and how it feels, I must be getting faster!" Fishlegs said with a smile on his face, and Gobber returned it.

"Aye, 'tis, yer on the nose with that one. How about you, Astrid?" Expecting to hear her talk about his antics on track, Hiccup braced himself for the onslaught that he was about to face head on.

A few seconds passed.

"Oh, nothing much actually. I'm trying to find out how to race the track the best way possible and which lines work for me. You know, the usual for me this past week or two," Astrid finished in a sickeningly calm voice. Hiccup hadn't expected this, but it made him feel much worse. It must have been obvious, because Gobber noticed a change in him right away.

"Hiccup, yer looking a little sick, don't tell me ye have motion sickness now." Gobber laughed and waited for a response.

"Oh, who, me? No, I'm not sick, I never get sick, that would be ridiculous," He said, his voice weak and on the verge of breaking.

"Calm down, lad, I'm just messing about. Well, I think yer all making great progress and I'm proud of all of ye. Alright, out ye go." He said, waving us to get out of the room. "Oh, and Hiccup, I need to speak with ye," Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief at hearing this. "Monday. There are a couple of things I want to go over with ye." And there it all went.

"Are you sure we couldn't talk right now? I mean I've got time-"

"Nope, I've got other things to attend to right now. Pints are cheap right now, and I've got nothing to do until 2 in the afternoon tomorrow, so ye bet I'm taking advantage of this." Gobber said as he began to gather his things. Turning back around, Hiccup saw no one in the room and figured everyone had left. Yet, the last thing he wanted to encounter was Astrid waiting for him outside. He knew he had to face her eventually. So, he peeked around the door to see if she was waiting for him, and to his relief, he didn't see anyone waiting for him. He was feeling calmer now that he knew the threat wasn't right there anymore. Maybe she really didn't care, or at least didn't care enough to do anything to him. Even walking into his garage stall, he didn't see any sign of Astrid. So as he got to work on cleaning up his bike and getting it ready for the next day, he let his defenses down.

"You know, Hiccup," he turned to see Astrid moving her hands and balling them up into fists as she avoided any eye contact with him. "I was telling myself to stay away from you so I could calm down before I confronted you." Her gritted teeth told Hiccup that she had not calmed down at all, and when she finally looked at him, he could see the fire behind her eyes. "But what the fuck were you doing out there?" She asked, gesturing to the track behind her. Hiccup found that his mouth was dry, and even if it wasn't it refused to move completely. "Oh, you mean you forgot what you were doing out there?" Her eyes had now widened as she shook the hand pointing to the track even more now. "Do you just go out there and take this as some kind of a joke? Do you-do you really think that there aren't other people out there who have something to prove? We didn't all come from a team manager who can just put their son on a bike for laughs. I can't even tell if you were trying to block me on purpose or if you really are just good at getting in everyone's way on accident. If you're going to keep doing that shit, then don't bother showing up next week." Astrid stormed out of his garage and back toward her ride, making sure to kick his toolbox and send it flying on the way out. As Hiccup kept looking out his garage door trying to process what had just happened, a couple of heads peered over from the other side of the door.

"Looks like someone got in big trouble." Snotlout laughed. "I don't know what you did to mess up that bad, but just be glad you're Stoick's son, or she would have taken your head clean off." He began to walk away and laugh as Ruffnut and Tuffnut followed. Fishlegs came in with Hiccup shortly after seeing the exchange and knelt down next to him.

"Looks like you've been having a rough day. Get some rest and uh, if you want any help, I'm always happy to give you a few pointers." Fishlegs smiled at Hiccup, and while he appreciated the help, he just wanted to be alone and rethink his decisions.

"Thanks, Fishlegs, but I think I'll be fine for now. I just need to think for a while." Fishlegs nodded, and patted Hiccup's shoulder as he got up.

"Well the offer won't go away anytime soon." Fishlegs wasn't sure what type of advice he could give, but seeing as how he finally wasn't the slowest person on track, he wanted to feel helpful in one way or another. Walking out of the garage and back to his own, Fishlegs left Hiccup to consider the next few days.

Hiccup knew that his time in this series was going to be wasted potential, and today just reaffirmed his thoughts from the start. His father was wasting his time. He wasn't going to become some big name in the series, and he would hardly make it to the grid. His hands moved in jolts, his arms jerking around with every motion, and his brow became more furrowed by the second. The more he thought about it, the more his decision loomed in his mind. He would have to make changes quickly. He needed to know how to get a bike around a track without being in the way, but everything up to this point had been a failure. Packing up his tools, he made his decision. It was do or die time, he was going to push as hard as he could tomorrow to go as fast as he could. He knew he would either figure out how to properly race his bike and get it around track without being an obstacle.

Or he would crash and burn.


End file.
